


(S)Exiled

by StarshipHufflebadger



Category: Star Trek Into Darkness - Fandom, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Academy Era, F/M, Fluff, Funny, Roommates, academy au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 00:16:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13512765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarshipHufflebadger/pseuds/StarshipHufflebadger
Summary: Leonard is exiled from his room as Jim comes back with a girl late at night and has to find somewhere else to sleep.





	(S)Exiled

Leonard was slowly and reluctantly become aware of sounds punctuating his peaceful slumber. He awoke without opening his eyes, laying still and listening, his brain too foggy for many moments to interpret the sounds correctly. He suddenly realized that what he was hearing were soft moans and stifled laughter, loud whispers and shushes coming from the bunk below his.

He sighed, realizing what the sounds meant and really not amused. He was exhausted and didn’t appreciate the interruption to his sleep; he’d had two midterm exams that day and really could’ve used a full night’s sleep to make up for the stress previous to them.

“Jim?” he called out into the darkness, his voice gruff and hoarse with sleep. The whispers and shuffling below immediately stopped, and he could hear two people breathing rather quickly.

“Uh, hey Bones, did I wake you?” Jim replied, his voice laced with both excitement and guilt. Leonard opened his eyes in the darkness and immediately rolled them, sighing again. 

“Yeah, you did.” He said flatly, sitting up in bed and rubbing his eyes. “I told you, I needed sleep tonight,” he said irritably, stifling a yawn, getting more annoyed by the second now that he was awake and really didn’t want to be. “Doesn’t she have a room you could go to?”

An unfamiliar female voice chimed in then, sounding breathless and cheerful and not even a little bit guilty. “My roommate has someone over too!”

“Wonderful.” Leonard grunted, sighing again. He weighed his options. He could put in some earplugs and try to go to sleep, but he knew what Jim would be getting up to just a couple of feet under him and he was not in the mood to put up with it. He could kick the girl out; he knew Jim would agree if he pressed the matter, but then Jim would be sulking for days and Leonard didn’t feel like putting up with that, either. Finally, he came to his conclusion: he’d have to go crash in someone else’s room.

“We… we could leave, I guess,” Jim said somewhat hesitantly, obviously trying to think of places that they could go and not be interrupted.

“Its fine, I’m leaving.” Leonard said shortly. He grabbed his pillow and blanket, stumbled down the ladder of the bunk bed and switched on a light on his desk, looking for his communicator. The sudden light blinded him and he blinked rapidly for a moment, located the communicator, and looked towards the door to make sure his path was clear so he wouldn’t trip on anything on the way out.

He switched the light off again, stuck the communicator and his ID card into his pajama pants pocket and tossed the blanket over his shoulder, tucking the pillow under his arm.

“Sorry, Bones…” Jim began, though he didn’t sound overly sorry, and Leonard suspected they’d resumed touching each other as soon as he’d flicked off the light.

“Save it,” Leonard said wryly, rolling his eyes and stumbling only once on his way to the door. “Use a condom, Jimmy-boy!” he shot back into the room as he stepped out into the hallway, hearing a noise of protest behind him as he shut the door. He gave a soft snort of amusement at Jim’s indignance and then sighed, wondering who wouldn’t mind being bothered so late at night. A quick glance at his communicator told him it was nearly one in the morning, and he set to wandering down the hall, pausing at the doors to a few different friends’ rooms, listening for any movement or speech within. He’d rather not wake someone up if he didn’t have to.

At the end of the hallway, he hadn’t found any rooms with real potential, so he scanned his ID card and entered the stairwell to head up to the next floor where at least three of his friends had rooms. The stairs were cold on his bare feet and he cursed quietly, wishing he’d thought to at least put socks, if not shoes, on.

Scanning his ID card again at the landing of the next floor, he entered a hallway identical to the one he’d just left and headed to the third door on the right, but there was no light under the door and it was silent. He tried two doors down where a fellow medical officer lived and decided to knock this time, getting desperate, but he could hear a deep snoring from inside and realized his friend was too out of it to hear the door.

Swearing once more, he continued down to the second last door on the left side of the hall and felt a leap of hope in his chest as he saw a thin line of light under the door. Nearly dropping his pillow in excitement, he stepped up to the door and listened, nearly crashing into it in his sleep-deprived, clumsy state. He couldn’t really hear anything, and couldn’t decide if the light was on because his friend slept with the light on, or because they were awake still. Or maybe it was just their roommate that was awake. Sighing, Leonard leaned on the door, accidentally bumping his head on it and making a thudding noise, which he barely noticed. He was so tired, leaning the majority of his weight on the door, and was seriously considering just curling up in the hallway, when he heard shuffling on the other side of the door.

He wasn’t quick enough to move in time and he fell into the room as the door was opened from the inside. He let out a yelp of surprise as he toppled sideways and narrowly missed slamming into a dresser just inside the room. Small, cool hands reached out and grabbed his arm, and he barely managed to right himself before they both crashed to the ground.

“Leonard?! What are you doing here at this hour?” a very surprised Carol asked, steadying him and stepping back, looking at him in mixed amusement and concern. “And in your pajamas?”

Leonard, who felt himself flush at how extremely ridiculous he must have looked falling into the room in such a disheveled state, straightened his t-shirt and cleared his throat.

“Ah, I was wondering if I could sleep on your floor tonight,” he asked, not wasting any time, and trying to cover his idiotic moment. He realized his pillow and blanket were on the floor and hastily picked them up. Under her intelligent gaze, he immediately wished he’d at least combed his hair or put on a robe or something; he felt embarrassingly underdressed, even though it was late at night.

“Mmm, does Jim have another “acquisition”?” she asked, her lips slightly pursed, though she sounded amused. Leonard rolled his eyes and nodded. 

“You were the first room I came across that still had a light on. Didn’t want to bug anyone if they were already sleepin’, since obviously I know how annoying that is.” He told her, tucking the pillow under his arm again.

“That’s sweet of you,” she said, smiling. Carol closed the door that he hadn’t realized was still open and beckoned him farther into the room.

“Thanks,” Leonard said gratefully, relaxing a little at the prospect of sleep. “Wait, where’s your roommate? Will she mind?” he asked, glancing at the bottom and top bunks and realizing there was no one else in the room.

“Kaitlynn is on leave for a couple of days, visiting family,” Carol told him, walking over to her desk and sitting down, glancing down at some papers she had obviously been working on before he’d barged in. She picked up her pen but didn’t write anything, looking up at him instead. “So really, it’s the best time you could have to need a room; you won’t even have to sleep on the floor.”

Leonard looked at the top bunk, where she was gesturing, and made a slightly disbelieving face.

“Are you sure she’d be okay with me sleeping in her bed?” He asked, shifting the blanket as it began to slip off of his arm. “I think I’ve met her all of three times.”

“You’ll sleep in my bed, and I’ll sleep in hers,” Carol said, amused at the surprise in his eyes as he looked from her bed, back to her.

“You sure?” he asked uncertainly. His southern gentleman background was yelling at him that he should insist on sleeping on the floor instead of possibly sweating in a young lady’s bed, but he was so tired that the thought of sleeping in an actual bed instead of on the floor was just too inviting.

“Of course, I wouldn’t have offered it otherwise,” she said, shrugging. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Well,” Leonard hesitated for only another second or so before relenting. “Alright. Thank you, I really do appreciate it,” he told her. She smiled and nodded and he stepped forward to toss his pillow and blanket up onto the top bunk so he could change his stuff out for hers.

“Just sleep under mine, Leonard, its fine,” she said, without looking up. “Why go to all the bother of changing them?” She was typing something furiously into a laptop, which spared him the embarrassment of her seeing his confusion. He hemmed and hawed again for a few moments but didn’t want to be argumentative, so he carefully folded his blanket and set it and the pillow near the door so he wouldn’t forget them in the morning. 

“There you go,” she said, again without looking over at him, and he shook his head as he climbed up onto her bunk. It was just like his, same blanket, same pillow, as was every blanket and pillow in the dorms. He thought that she was right as he settled down, stretching his long legs before curling up a bit on his side. It would have been silly to change out all the covers when they were identical anyway. 

“Your blanket smells nicer than mine anyway,” he said without thinking as he got comfortable, and immediately wished he could sink into the mattress and disappear, all but smacking his forehead with his palm. He heard her pause, then give a soft laugh, and he sighed inwardly with relief, glad she didn’t think he was being creepy.

“Thanks,” she chuckled, and thankfully didn’t say more on the subject. “Sorry, but I still need to finish this paper, it’ll take maybe another half an hour. Will the light bother you?”

“Nah,” he said, his voice already thick with sleep as his body began to relax. The great thing about the Starfleet dorms was that all the rooms were pretty much the same, so he felt like he was in his own room, albeit with much prettier company (and really, the entire room smelled nicer). “Whatcha workin’ o-on?” he asked, the last word fragmented as he tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

“A report on the chemical makeup of different bombs and missiles. Nuclear, atomic, organic bio-hazardous types, you know. Very exciting,” she told him with a touch of amusement in her voice, knowing he had no interest in weapons or warfare at all.

 

“Oh yeah, sounds like a thrill,” he agreed a bit drily but with amusement, inwardly shaking his head. Sounded like the most boring subject he’d ever heard of, but he kept his opinion to himself. She made that soft little laugh again and he smiled, the sound a pleasant one to his ears. He pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and took a few deep breaths to relax himself, thinking all the while that he liked the thought that they had both chosen the top bunk. Just something little, but it connected them in a silly way.

Leonard quickly began to drift in and out of sleep, the soft tapping sound of her typing reminding him of rain falling on a roof. After a while, he was suddenly aware that the desk light was off, and there was just the glow from the ensuite bathroom drifting into the room.

He heard the toilet flush, then the water running as she washed up and brushed her teeth, and he was drifting again when she finished. The sudden change in light to almost complete darkness when she turned off the bathroom light woke him up again. He listened as she padded lightly into the room and as the bed made a slight creaking sound when she sat down.

“Goodnight,” he said, a bit thickly, his voice hoarse again. 

“Oh, you are awake,” she said softly, shuffling around under the covers; he imagined she was lying down and getting comfortable. “I thought you were completely out since you didn’t answer me when I was talking to you a little while ago.”

“In an’ out,” he murmured, nearly asleep again. She chuckled softly, smiling as she lay back.

“Well, goodnight then,” she replied, and realized he likely hadn’t heard her, because seconds later his breathing was slower and deeper, and she knew he was asleep.

Still smiling to herself, she flipped over onto her side and settled in, listening to his rhythmic breathing until she herself drifted off, glad of the unexpected company while her roommate was gone.

——

The next morning, Leonard awoke with a start and an unattractive snort as he snapped out of a dream where he’d been falling out of a shuttle that was taking him and some of the other cadets up to the space station. Letting out a groan, he ran a hand through his hair and groped in his pocket for his communicator. It was seven in the morning now, and he sighed. He could have slept another half an hour or so before he really had to be up. Oh well, he figured he may as well get up and get going down to breakfast before his nine o’clock class.

He climbed somewhat clumsily down the ladder and made his way by memory more than sight to the bathroom, rubbing his sleep-filled eyes. He had finished peeing and was about to wash his face when he realized the bathroom counter was covered in products and items that were not Jim’s and certainly not his. Spinning around in confusion, it took him several long seconds to remember where he was. Belated alarm washed over him; he’d just gone to the washroom without closing the door out of habit, what if she’d walked in?! 

A bit shaken, he flushed the toilet, washed his hands and left the bathroom. In the dim morning light, he could see her lying on the bottom bunk, and she looked like she could still be sleeping, but he wasn’t sure. Either way, he decided he wanted to get out of there before he seriously embarrassed himself again, and this time something worse than just falling into her room.

He went over to her desk and hastily scribbled a note thanking her for her hospitality, his usually neat hand not so neat this early in the morning. He scooped up his pillow and blanket, made sure he had his communicator and ID card, and then slipped out of the room. He was just closing the door behind him when he heard a wolf whistle down the hall and looked around in alarm, only to see one of his classmates coming towards him with a grin on his face.

“Oh, hey Mark,” he said, shifting the blanket under his arm so it was more comfortable. “What?” Leonard asked, unnerved by the grin still on the other man’s face. “Why are you smiliing like that? It’s really unsettling.”

“Looks like you scored last night, eh McCoy?” Mark said, nudging him with his elbow and continuing to grin like an idiot. 

“Huh?” Leonard said blankly. Mark gestured at the door he’d just come out of, at his general state of undress and at the blanket and pillow he held, still grinning but now with impatiently raised eyebrows, an expectant expression. “What?! Oh, no, it’s nothing like that,” Leonard said hastily, realizing suddenly what the man was thinking.

“Sure, sure…” Mark grinned, then looked up and waved over someone else, much to Leonard’s dismay. “Hey Owen, look who hooked up with Carol last night…”

“What, really?!” Owen, a very young cadet whom Leonard outranked several times over, came running, looking excited. 

“No, it’s not like that-” Leonard tried to insist, but the two young men were already so taken with the idea that it was obviously hopeless. As Owen tried to grill him for information, Leonard had had enough. He looked for an excuse to issue an order for them to go away and found one at once. Owen’s hair was messy and though he was in his uniform, his jacket wasn’t done up properly and the collar was wrinkled.

“Enough,” he snapped, taking on a commanding voice as they pressed him to tell them how good she’d been. “Cadet, fix that jacket, clean up your hair and report to your first lesson. I don’t have time for this.”

“Yes sir,” Owen replied automatically, looking somewhat abashed, but as they both quickly saluted Leonard and he walked away, they began to chatter to each other as they headed in the opposite direction, looking back at him over their shoulders like schoolkids. Sighing, Leonard headed back down to his room, thinking about how he rarely used his rank to order anyone around, though he had to admit, being able to diffuse that annoying situation in such a way had felt rather nice.

When he entered his and Jim’s dorm room, he could see the other man passed out on his bunk, snoring softly. A young, red-headed woman Leonard didn’t recognize was curled up against his chest, also deeply asleep, the two knotted up in the blankets from their late night activities. Rolling his eyes, Leonard tossed his blanket and pillow back up onto his bed and got changed into his uniform, not making any particular effort to be quiet, though the couple on the bottom bunk did not wake as he moved around.

He cleaned up, went to breakfast and headed to his first class, unaware of the few whispers that followed him. After two difficult classes he was ravenous, so during his free period, he stopped by the cafeteria. He was walking towards the food line when a table made up of cadets from his wing of the dorms spotted him, calling his name and grinning, letting out whistles and encouragement. 

Exasperated, Leonard turned away from them after staring for a moment, swearing under his breath. He was going to have to warn Carol about this new development, so she didn’t run into it unexpectedly and accuse him of spreading rumors. He got in line and was just picking up a tray when he heard her voice behind him.

“So what exactly have you been telling people that we did last night?” she asked, as though reading his mind. He turned around, nearly dropping his tray, and smiled weakly at her, a somewhat helpless look on his face. He was relieved to see she looked more curious than anything, a hopeful sign.

“I swear I didn’t say anything,” he told her, forgetting he was in line and not moving forward, focused on her. “Mark and that Owen kid saw me coming out of your room and wouldn’t believe me when I tried to say that nothing happened…” he trailed off, looking at her pleadingly, hoping she believed him. He didn’t want her to think he was bragging about something that had never happened, though he hoped she wouldn’t think he would even do that to begin with; he’d like to think he had a better reputation than that.

“What do you want?” Leonard looked around and realized that the lady who took the food orders was staring at him impatiently, and he realized he’d been holding up the line. “Order or get out of line,” she said gruffly, obviously annoyed.

“Oh, sorry, I’ll have the chicken sandwich. No, wait- the chicken salad sandwich. Er, I mean the chicken caesar salad,” he said, flustered. The lady raised her eyebrow at him, wordlessly asking him to make up his damn mind. “The chicken Caesar salad,” he confirmed, wishing inwardly that he’d just gone back to his own bed and stayed there earlier in the morning.

Carol was laughing though, and after she ordered her food (eloquently, not a like the bumbling idiot he’d been), they moved on down the line together.

“Anyway, I figured it was something like that,” she told him, reaching over the counter and grabbing bottled water, forks and napkins for them both. 

“Thanks. I’m glad you believe me,” he said, relieved. His face still felt hot after his flustered order attempt, but he was happy enough now that he knew she wasn’t annoyed with him.

“Ah come on, I never believed Dr. McCoy would make up rumors like that,” she said teasingly, thanking the cook who handed them their food. Leonard nodded to the cook and they walked away to find a table to themselves, ignoring the whistles that had gotten louder since they’d noticed Leonard was now with Carol herself. He smiled in response to her comment and sat down, sighing and staring at his food for a moment before digging in.

“I must say, I’m glad you don’t seem offended by the suggestion that we slept together,” he said between bites, though he had no idea why he was saying it, inwardly telling himself to shut up.

“Why would I be?” she asked casually. She took a bite of her sandwich and watched him as she chewed and swallowed. “It’s not like it’s an unpleasant prospect.” Her expression and voice were normal, but there was a twinkle in her eyes that made Leonard choke on the piece of chicken he’d just bit into. He coughed and managed to get it down, reaching for his water to soothe his now-irritated throat.

“Oh,” he said, unable to think of anything better to say. He fumbled around in his mind, aware that what she’d said likely indicated some measure of attraction to him and he couldn’t think how to respond. He’d always had an underlying attraction for her but had never acted on it, nor really even admitted it to himself, as he really valued her friendship, but now, it came frothing to the surface and he felt himself looking at her with more interest, though he tried to be subtle about it. She smiled at this, and he detected a knowing look on her face that told him his attempts to hide his thoughts had failed.

“You’re cute when you get flustered,” she told him, her voice soft and teasing, and he smiled back at her, though he was at a loss for what to say. When she looked down at her food, Leonard grinned for a moment; embarrassed though he still was by getting so flustered, he was pleased that she obviously found it endearing. He let the grin slide from his face as she looked back up, and busied himself with his food, though the comment played over again in his mind.

They ate in relative silence, and when Carol was done, she stood up, gathering her garbage.

“I have class now,” she told him, taking the last sip of water left in her bottle. He nodded, trying to finish his mouthful so he could speak. 

“Leave that,” he said after he’d swallowed, gesturing to her garbage. “I can get rid of it.”

“Thanks,” she said, smiling at him. She shouldered the backpack she’d slung across the back of her chair when she’d sat down, adjusting the jacket of her cadet uniform. 

“Not a problem,” he told her with a quick smile. She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, long enough that he was about to ask her if he had some lettuce in his teeth when she spoke again. 

“Kaitlynn is off campus until Sunday,” she told him, pulling her bag up on the other shoulder as she spoke. “If Jim happens to bring another girl home tonight, I wouldn’t mind if you had to sleep in my room again.” Her voice trailed a bit at the end of her sentence, and she smiled at him, obviously trying to make a point.

Leonard sat still for a moment, processing this, and smiled a little as she turned to leave. 

“But what if he doesn’t?” he called after her, attempting to flirt, something he was not usually overly great at. She paused and turned back to look at him, still only a few feet away.

“Then I suppose you’ll just have to find some other excuse,” she said, and he noted the flirtatious note in her tone as well. She winked at him and walked away, not looking back again, and he stared after her until she’d turned a corner and disappeared from his line of sight.

He quickly ate what was left of his lunch, discarded their garbage and headed out of the cafeteria, thinking about her the whole time, wondering if this new flirting development could possibly be leading to an actual relationship of some sort. The table full of cadets was still fully occupied when he left, and this time their cheers and whistles made him grin to himself, though he made sure they couldn’t see. For once, he was hoping Jim would come home with a girl that evening.

“Speak of the devil, there’s the man I was just thinking about,” Leonard said, as he looked up and saw a somewhat disheveled Jim approaching, looking guilty.

“Look, Bones, I’m sorry about last night, I forgot about your exams, and–” Jim began hurriedly, but Leonard clapped a hand on his shoulder, cutting him off.

“Its alright, my friend. Its alright,” Leonard said, smiling. Clearly confused but relieved that his friend wasn’t mad, Jim looked him up and down, obviously wondering if Leonard was okay. 

“Why are you so happy?” Jim asked somewhat suspiciously, used to Leonard being extremely cranky if Jim had kept him up or made him leave for his amorous encounters. “Did you sabotage something of mine?” Leonard laughed, which confused Jim further.

“Nah,” was all the answer that Leonard provided. There was a momentary pause, where Jim seemed uncertain how to proceed, still not sure if Bones was in an actual good mood or was plotting revenge. “So, are you going to see that girl again tonight?” Leonard asked, trying to sound casual.

“Ah, well… I wanted to, yeah.” Jim said, though he added hurriedly: “but her roommate might stay in someone else’s room tonight, so we’ll go to hers and you can stay home.”

“That’s alright, help yourself to our room,” Leonard said, trying to contain his satisfaction at hearing that Jim was planning on being with another girl tonight. The perfect excuse. “I think I might have other plans.”

With that, Leonard clapped Jim on the shoulder and walked away, leaving Jim looking almost comically confused. Jim watched Bones disappear into the hallway, and he could swear there was almost a skip in the doctor’s step as he walked. Shaking his head, Jim went off to his first class, wondering where Bones had ended up the night before and why he was in such a good mood.

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment! <3


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